12 Minutes to Midnight
by Griever11
Summary: Christmas ficlet that was meant to go into my collection of other ficlets but since it's Christmas, I decided this one deserved to be a fic of its own. Slight ML.


**A/N:** Okay, okay. So I'm preparing for an onslaught of I don't know... _things_ being thrown at me for not participating in the Secret Santa exchange. And I truly, truly am sorry but at the time I really thought I wouldn't have the time (or internet excess as it so happens) to do it – Hell, I'm still not done with LAST year's gift ... but but then I found this little snippet (along with a few others) and it had so much going for it and I decided to make it Christmassy (but not by too much) and it turned into a Christmas ficlet!

So while I will hang my head in shame for my other yet to be finished fics – at least I have this one to tide people over. That is if people are still reading this annoyingly long author's note.

Any mistakes are solely mine since editing seemed to be far too difficult for my alcohol addled brain. Gotta love Christmas feasts.

On the bright side, now people have ONE extra Xmas ficlet to read.

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Max hated that she and Logan were fighting. To be honest, she would not have minded it too much if she hadn't already given Cindy the go ahead to spend the rest of the night with her latest honey. Now she didn't even have someone to bitch about how much Logan was being an ass. She was agitated and annoyed and though she would never audibly admit it, slightly lonely.

She circled the rim of the hot mug of cocoa she had in her hand as she stared absentmindedly out of her window, watching the drizzle of rain falling onto the city below her. He was so stubborn and inconsiderate, how could he have just –

No, she wasn't going to get herself riled up again. Too late.

She was going to _make_ him dinner! She'd even gone to that swanky supermarket place Logan took her to once to get the right brand of sauce for the chicken. Said sauce now stood unused, looking pretty next to her newly opened tin of chocolate powder. Stubborn, asshole, jerk.

She was going to make _him_ dinner for once, and he had the nerve to go to spend the evening with his family instead. A 'last minute thing' he had called it. One that he couldn't possibly get out of considering the time of the year. She scoffed at him and yelled at him and in a moment of heated insanity, tore up his notes on a drug cartel he was investigating.

In his defence, Max afforded, he did try to remedy the situation by extending the invitation to her as well, only at that point Max was so far gone in her haze of anger and disappointment that all she could say was that she would rather spend the night alone than accept his 'pity invite' and spend it with his sorry excuse of a family.

In hindsight, that might have been a little harsh.

So here she sat staring out her apartment window debating if she should call him, and what she was supposed to say if she did. Her fingers toyed with the telephone she held in her hand. She mentally told herself to harden up and quickly she dialled the familiar numbers onto the keypad and held it to her ear.

The other line rang twice before he answered. Max was silent for a second before she ventured a tentative greeting. She heard him take a breath before responding.

"Hey, Max. How's being alone treating you?"

Max held the phone away from her ear and stared at it in disbelief for a second. Since when did Logan get so snarky?

"As well as you being with your relatives is treating you, I'd say." She retorted. He heard him chuckle, and for a moment the chatter and clinking of glasses in the background faded as she assumed he moved to a quieter setting.

"Look, Logan," She inhaled deeply. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's fine. I guess... I guess deserved some of it. I seem to have a habit of cancelling at the last minute, so I owe you an apology too." He said. "You know, I don't think they even know I'm here." He added after a moment's pause. He heard Max laugh on the other end.

"You shoulda bailed on them instead of me tonight. No snooty relatives to endure, excellent genetically engineered company and a killer hot chocolate I made all by myself. _And _I would have made one for you too." She teased as she took a sip of her drink.

"Max, all you did was buy chocolate powder and added hot water to it." He said. He heard her huff indignantly on the other end.

"Yeah, and I bet I'm still enjoyin' myself a whole lot more than you. Listen, do you want me to come over when you get home? When exactly are you coming home anyway? "

"Late, but I'll tell you what. Come over tomorrow and we'll try this Christmas with family thing again. You and me. And real hot chocolate." He offered.

Max remained silent for a while, feigning contemplation before she let out and exaggerated sigh.

"Fine. But then you'll have to make me lunch too."

"Anything for you." He replied without skipping a beat.

A grandfather clock chimed from somewhere within the Cale family mansion, and Logan glanced at his wrist watch.

"Merry Christmas, Max."

"Hey, Merry Christmas!"

Their voices chorused simultaneously, and it was the sweetest sound they've both heard in a long time.

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I think FFNet has decided to fail on me. I have not been receiving alerts for messages posted in BBWW for the last few ... weeks? And here I am thinking it's been all quiet and there's been SNIPPETS floating around? Stupid FFnet.

Anyway, MERRY CHRISTMAS and hopefully you'll hear more from me before the new year.


End file.
